The Police Command in Rivers has arrested some members of a criminal gang suspected to be murdering car-hire drivers and stealing their vehicles.
SP Grace Iringe-Koko, the command’s spokesperson, in a statement in Port Harcourt on Monday, linked the group to multiple cases of drivers that got missing.
She revealed that the arrest of one gang member, Anthony Chima, exposed the sinister activities of the gang in the state.
She stated: “The discovery of this criminal enterprise targeting Uber drivers in the state followed the disappearance of one Oghenevwarhe Barry Akpobome, an Uber driver.
“Upon investigating the disappearance, Police operatives arrested one Anthony Chima, a 35-year-old graduate of Political Science from the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt.
Under interrogation, Chima confessed to being recruited into a gang that specialised in luring taxi drivers into ambushes and stealing their vehicles.”
Iringe-Koko said that Chima’s testimony showed the gang’s further gruesome actions of killing the drivers and harvesting their body parts for ritualistic purposes.
“The suspect said that he was introduced into the gang by his friend, Amfoh Abu, the group’s arms dealer, and another individual simply identified as ‘Reason.’
“Investigation further revealed that ‘General Effizy,’ the gang’s leader, is a prominent figure in the Greenland cult and a seasoned kidnapper in the state,” she added.
The police spokesperson said that Chima confessed that he randomly obtains the Uber drivers’ phone numbers and pretends to be a passenger in need of a ride.
She said that on Jan. 10, Chima contacted Akpobome and directed the driver to pick him up at Reason’s residence.
